Wild Winter Weather Leaves Many Wondering What to Expect

With the incredible snow-and-ice storms rocking the Midwest and Northeast even more harshly-and somewhat earlier-than they typically do, many Americans are wondering what to expect next.

Meteorologists are saying that while this has been for many states one of the "snowiest" Decembers, there have been at least five other snowier Decembers during the times of active measurement as far as total snowfall experienced by month's end. Nevertheless, some areas such as the city of Madison, Wisconsin are already on pace to wind up with significantly more December snow than average, if snowfall does not tail off.

The long-range forecast made by most meteorologists predicts above-average winter temperatures and average precipitation, although there have already been pockets of temperature anomalies that could change things.

Meteorologists tend to use the words "normal" and "average" interchangeably. Averages are, unless specified as otherwise, measured from the present back 30 years.

At least one of the ice storms that have already thrust itself diagonally across the United States has been blamed for killing 38 people, mostly by way of causing fatal car accidents. These storms have also left thousands of people without power for days on end as power crews have needed to work to restore power lines brought down by heavy accumulations of hanging ice or toppled trees.

Some people that this journalist has talked to have noticed that the winds have been shifting for the last couple of years, blowing in from different directions than usual, and they have wondered if this is real and, if so, what lies behind it. Some others feel that it seems windier this winter than normal, with breezes blowing in the way they do in the spring and summer, even as I get to entertain my gaze with close-up observations of ice-fishermen.

Many meteorologists have linked these perceptions to the shifts in the flow of the Pacific trade winds due to the currently prevailing La Nina winds, and the "ridge" of pressure forces being generated by the persistent drought in the Southwestern United States.

According to NASA's Earth Observatory, "The coupled atmosphere-ocean phenomenon known as El Niño is frequently followed by a period of normal conditions in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. Sometimes, but not always, El Niño conditions give way to the other extreme of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle. This cold counterpart to El Niño is known as La Niña, Spanish for 'the girl child.'"

According to meteorologists, freezing rain and sleet are expected to accumulate more in the Midwest than in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. The storms that bring the frozen stuff to the Midwest should end up as predominantly snow as they hit the East coastal areas.